Crowd sourcing: Is San Diego America’s most tolerant city?

The Atlantic's 'Tolerance Index' ranks us No. 1 -- but do residents agree?

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The “Tolerance Index,” on The Atlantic magazine’s Cities blog, was created by Richard Florida, a senior Atlantic editor. It weighs a region’s immigrant or foreign-born population, concentration of gays and lesbians, and racial and ethnic integration. The ranking of American metropolitan areas’ tolerance can be found here.

This week, The Atlantic magazine’s Cities blog named San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos the nation’s most tolerant metropolitan area. We asked a sampling of local residents if they agree:

David Gomez, 33

Grocery store employee from National City

How tolerant is this area? “I’ve been living here in San Diego the last five or six years — I used to live in Northern California. It’s tolerant in terms of reported hate crimes toward minorities, even though I have heard of isolated instances of gay-bashing.”

How about racial tensions? “Other parts of the United States have seen a rise of fear-mongering against people from Latin America. I haven’t seen that much here in San Diego.”

What’s your ethnic background? “My family is from Mexico, but I was raised in the States.”

léWaun Franks, “50-something”

Is this the nation’s most tolerant area? “Yes, I tend to agree with that. It’s tolerant.”

Why? “Because San Diego is just a melting pot of people. You are so close to the border and it is a naval town, so you have all sorts of people coming in.”

Where did you grow up? “In Chicago. They don’t blend so well. But out here you have to.”

How has San Diego changed since you moved here in 1977? “As the years go on, it’s become such a melting pot. You have such a lot of interracial marriages, you have to get along. And that’s really a good thing.”

Dr. Ismail Mualin, 42

Assistant professor of medicine, UC San Diego, living in Allied Gardens

You came from Somalia in 1996, how tolerant is this area? “We’ve lived here for a year and a half now, my wife and two kids. People are very welcoming. You walk around and you don’t notice your color or ethnicity or anything.”

Is greater tolerance a global phenomenon? “I travel a lot for my job. Compared to Europe — you feel you don’t really belong, especially in Italy, where the whole community is one ethnicity. … Here, I think people are happier and relaxed. … It’s more mixed.”

Why do you say that? “More than 50 percent of … San Diego is nonwhite and I think that helps.”

Anna Maria Lazo, 68

How tolerant is San Diego? “On a scale of one to 10, I’d say San Diego is an eight. I’ve lived in other cities — New York, Seattle. New York is a 10, Seattle is a nine.”

How would you describe those cities? “Seattle’s minority population tends to be very low, so there’s no overt segregation of neighborhoods. … New York is one big conglomeration of everybody.”

And this region? “San Diego in some areas is really liberal, really tolerant. In other areas it’s a little bit sketchy. It depends on where you land in San Diego. But it’s a beautiful place to live in.”